Selling Your Home? 6 Fixer Up Musts to Maximize Your Equity

The good news is that the housing market is coming back with vengeance, the bad news is that not all of us have the money to get the house of our dreams. As the market picks up, more people are looking for homes than those who are selling. Although being in a seller’s market, there are ways that you can maximize your equity and other ways that you will lose out to the market competition.

Excluding plumbing companies Winnipeg, there are little improvements that can be made around your home that are cost effective can not only make your home look more attractive; it can bring about more interest. With more interest, comes the emotional “gotta-haves,” which will only further drive up the cost of your home. If you want to cash in big time on the equity you have in your house, try these six cost effective fixer-ups.

1 Clean up the outside

Nothing will drive a house price higher than curbside appeal. Most home buyers look online to decide which homes they want to see and which they are going to pass on. If the exterior of your home looks less than desirable, you may miss out on even getting people to your front door. Don’t think that the inside makes up for the out. If you put just some sweat equity into adding eye-popping color, redoing your front porch paint, or changing out your front entry door, you would be amazed at the increased traffic you will see walking through your house. Make sure to add those special touches that tell buyers that your house is “loved”.

2 Redo your hardwood

One of the worst things to live through is refinishing hardwood floors. Unfortunately, the floors are key to the impression of your house. Nothing can make your house look more updated than freshly sanded and stained hardwood floors. If they look dull and drab, that is immediately going to turn buyers off. Not wanting to refinish them, buyers may look elsewhere or overestimate the cost and inconvenience and offer much less for your home than if you just bite the bullet and do it before listing your home.

3 Replace old windows

If you have windows that are aged and cracking, it can really make your home look outdated both inside and out. Putting in new windows is not only attractive to buyers for aesthetic appeal, but it also means more energy efficiency for them, and a cut on their monthly energy costs. If possible, invest in replacing old windows and entryway doors to give your home a fresh new energy-saving appeal.

4 Reface cabinets

If you have old cabinet doors that look weathered and aren’t supposed to be rustic, consider replacing the faces. Buyers will look at old cabinets and think about the cost of redoing kitchens even when they don’t have to. If you reface the doors and change out the hardware to something more contemporary and updated, you can build a lot of equity in your home. It won’t be on the list of things the buyer will have to do and pay for, which is always a major plus when it comes time for them to estimate how much to offer.

5 Paint

A fresh coat of paint is always a welcomed look. If you have outdated colors or finger marks all over the walls, a new coat of paint can make your home look completely renovated. A small expense, if you do it yourself, it will maximize the equity you have in your home. One of those things that buyers don’t want to have to add to their to-do list, if you repaint your home, it will show one hundred times better than if you don’t.

6 Switch out the fixtures

If it has been more than a decade since you have put lighting in your home, consider switching out the light fixtures. Changing flush mounts and sconces around the home can make the house look renovated and will cost you very little. Not a hard thing to do on your own, changing out lighting fixtures is an instant update that requires very little on your part.

As a buyer walks through your home, assuming you can get them there, they immediately go to work in their head making a list of all the money they will have to incur fixing things up. If you fix the major things that they immediately see, it will make a huge impression on them, and it will also increase the amount of money they will offer, guaranteed.